Alex James: ‘Blur are meeting up over Christmas – and we’ll probably record again’

https://link.brightcove.com/services/player/?bctid=1312794389001Blur‘s Alex James has said that the band will “will meet up over Christmas” and “probably record again’

Last month Damon Albarn revealed that the band had been meeting up regularly and recording again. Now in an exclusive interview with NME which can be seen above, James said:

We’re getting together for a Christmas drink next week which is nice. We still see each other all the time, more since we were all living out of a suitcase.

He added: “We’ll probably record again.”

James hinted that the band may not release a full album though, commenting: “Is there such a thing as an album? Does music have to come 12 tracks at a time?” The bassist said that he didn’t know what the music would sound like due to “Damon doing operas,” adding that it would be like” getting The Blues Brothers back together.”

When asked about the state of the music industry, he said: “I don’t think Blur would be signed if they were around today. It’s a shame, but you can’t really be in an indie band these days. You can’t really be in Half Man Half Biscuit or Crispy Ambulance today, you can’t make any money.”

James ws also asked about recent comments from his friend Jeremy Clarkson, who suggested that workers choosing to take industrial action over pension reforms should be “shot” when speaking on the BBC1’s The One Show.

He said: “I think he’s really funny and says what he’s thinking. I wish more bands would say the unsayable. He’s sort of the best rock star we’ve got.”

Earlier this year, Damon Albarn told NME that Blur had recorded a spoken word piece with poet Michael Horovitz about this year’s Notting Hill Carnival. He said: “If they’d have cancelled the carnival – and thank God they didn’t – maybe we’d have put it out. It had its moment: it was a perfect plea to reinstate the carnival. So it wasn’t relevant – it was relevant for about 12 hours.”

Albarn added that he still gets an “amazing feeling” from playing with Blur and hinted at plans to play live with the band – possibly outside the UK – next year. But he also explained that he’s still working out how to fit Blur in with his other projects.